Driver qualification courses for next 5 years after September 2014

Driver CPC has been in force in the UK since 10th September 2008 for drivers of passenger carrying vehicles and 10th September 2009 for drivers of goods carrying vehicles. The supporting legislation is contained within EU Directives 2003/59.

All PCV vehicles drivers, who already had a category D, D1, D+E or D1+E licence at 10 September 2008, will need to complete the 35 hours of periodic training before 10 September 2013, unless exempt. This also applies to drivers who hold D1 entitlement by virtue of passing a car test pre-1997. After this, they will need to undertake a further 35 hours of training in every subsequent five year period in order to maintain their Driver CPC.

All LGV vehicles drivers, who already had a category C, C1, C+E or C1+E licence at 10 September 2009, will need to complete the 35 hours of periodic training before 10 September 2014, unless exempt. This also applies to drivers who hold C1 entitlement by virtue of passing a car test pre-1997 and drivers who hold HGV class 1, 2 or 3, gained prior to 1991. After this, they will need to undertake a further 35 hours of training in every subsequent five year period in order to maintain their Driver CPC.
New drivers have to pass the initial Driver CPC qualification before being able to drive professionally. This can be taken at the same time as the normal driving theory and practical tests. Ower driving age limits also apply for those who achieve their Driver CPC.

New drivers who gain their initial Driver CPC after 10 September 2008 (PCV) or 10 September 2009 (LGV) will immediately begin their cycle of periodic training upon receipt of their Driver Qualification Card (DQC) and will need to complete 35 hours of training within five years of attaining their initial Driver CPC and then complete 35 hours of training every subsequent five years in order to retain their Driver CPC.

Drivers who have both PCV and LGV licences will have to complete only one course of 35 hours of Periodic Training every five years; they will not have to go through 35 hours of training for each licence category.

Periodic Training must be completed in the driver’s country of employment or residence. Foreign drivers, who are based in the UK, can undertake Periodic Training in the UK if residing here for longer than six months in a calendar year. Training completed in another EU state, where employed or resident, will count towards Periodic Training in the UK.

When a driver attends a periodic training session, his attendance will be permanently recorded onto the Driving Standards Agency website. When a total of 35 hours has been completed by the driver, the DSA will automatically send him a Driver Qualification Card . Training does not have to be with the same organization, all JAUPT approved training centres are able to undertake training and this will be recognised by the DSA. The whole 35 hours of training do not have to be performed on day-by-day basis – in can be split, and for example one module can be attended each year. Each 5-year period starts as soon as the current Driver CPC qualification runs out – not from the date of completion of the last 35 hours of training. A driver can phone the DSA or check on their website to see how many hours training has been recorded for him.

If a driver wants to take dangerous goods (ADR) training, the following can count towards his periodic training: up to 21 hours of the initial basic dangerous goods course and 7 hours of the core module refresher course. Only ADR training taken within the EU counts towards Driver CPC periodic training.

The information about training completion is not available directly to an employer, but the driver can authorise temporary access by his employer to his records by contacting the DSA. After the initial entitlement has expired, 10th Sept 2013 for PCV drivers, 10th Sept 2014 for LGV drivers or 5 years after passing module 4 for new drivers, drivers will be required to present their employer their valid Driver Qualification Card and must carry it with them all the time and also it to any enforcement officer anywhere in the EU on request. If they fail to do so they will be forbidden to drive the vehicle and probably will get a fine.

Drivers do not need a Driver CPC licence if

they already hold a vocational licence so don’t need to take the initial qualification route if their licences were obtained before September 2008 for bus and coach drivers or September 2009 for lorry drivers. Their previous experience will count as equivalent to initial qualification.

the vehicles they are driving:

Have a maximum authorised speed not exceeding 45kph

Are new or rebuilt and have not yet been put into service

Are carrying material or equipment to be used by the driver in the course of his work, on condition that driving the vehicle is not the driver’s principal activity